Views of a Vision Trip
We're here... we're back... we're processing... but most of all, we're together again.
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(Tigey McTigerson traveled with us. Each of our kiddos had an identical stuffed animal at home. It was a little bit of each of them on the trip with us.) |
Even though parts of the country try to function like a European city, Albania still has a tribal culture background. Because of this, it is still a highly relational culture. "Oh, you need something fixed? I got a guy." We laughed the number of times our team leaders said "we got a guy" when we asked them how certain parts of life function in Tirana. If you want to have a chat with someone, you meet them at a coffee shop. If you want to discuss a business deal, you meet them at a coffee shop. If you're a man and you don't have anywhere else to be, you meet people at the coffee shop. (Unless you're an old man... then you challenge your buddies to a highly competitive game of dominoes at the local park. It's too rowdy for the local coffee shop. )
And if you happen to get into a fight, because your feet hurt and your emotions are running high because you've passed a playground and you suddenly, deeply miss your kids... then you find a coffee shop and have a cup and talk about it. (theoretically, of course.)
Tirana is such an interesting city... it truly is an amazing place where East meets West, North meets South and everything smashes into everything else all at the same time.
Skanderbeg Square... essentially, the center of the city. To get to the teams houses, we walked East. To get to the Grand Park, we walked South. To get to the school, we walked North. And in this square, you get a view of Albanias past, present and future.
Directly across the square, is a statue of Gjergj Kastrioti, more commonly known as Skanderbeg, the Albanian national hero who led revolts against the Ottoman Empire and effectively stopped their Northern push into Eastern Europe. But right next to Skanderbeg is the Et'hem Bej Mosque, closed under communism but reopened without permission and without police interference to 10,000 attendees in 1991.
The other side of the square holds the Palace of Culture (a building that was constructed after a historic masque and bazaar were destroyed under the Communist state atheism declaration). It now houses a library, a ballet theater and an Albanian/English bookstore.
The Greek Orthodox cathedral sits on the final corner of the square. And all of these historic buildings are surrounded by cranes, construction and capitalism. (I went for the alliteration there... really, that just means that there's a nice, new mall built just behind the mosque.) Like I said... everything, all together, all at once.
Even the plant life is a mash up. Pine trees next to palm trees, roses planted under Mimosa trees, and grape vines growing next to orange, pomegranate and apple trees
Our first and second days, we explored the city in detail. Visiting the square, exploring parks, talking to doctors at local clinics to figure out emergency health care. Even grocery shopping to find out if they have dairy-free options easily available!
Our third day we got a birds-eye view of the city, with a visit to Kruje, an important historical village. Kruje is a mountain town with an ancient castle that withheld being under siege three different times from the Ottoman Empire. Now, it houses a history museum dedicated to Skanderbeg and the history of Albania.
Because it's so high up in the mountains, Kruje also offers a birds eye view of Tirana, which sits in the valley between the mountains.
On day 4, we got to visit GDQ International school. As we sat down in the directors office to chat with her, I noticed the name sign on her desk... written on a Tinga Tinga painted plaque. "Wait, a minute... that's an art style from Tanzania, I know that plaque..." Turns out, she visited HOPAC, the school where I spent 3 years teaching in Tanzania, as part of an ACSI accreditation audit. Another strange "coincidence" on this journey...
After visiting the school, we made a last minute, unplanned trip through the mountains to visit another team, some of who we had met at training this summer.
Back in the city, on Day 5, we determined to try exploring on our own, seeing if we could navigate this busy city.
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Dinner out...  |
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| Pizzari i Ri (Albanian for new market... remember the old one had been destroyed?) |
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| Feeling accomplished since we got back all by ourselves. |
Day 6, we went back to the city center on our own again to tour some museums, find the Grand Park and shop for final souvenirs. One of the museums we saw was BunkArt2, a military museum built inside one of the old nuclear fall out bunkers under the city.
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| The barber chair in the airport... visitors had to have their hair and beards cut to conform to the "socialist style." |
Viewing the various ways that neighbors and friends were encouraged to spy on each other to "protect the interest of the people and the socialist state."
After we were entirely worn out, it was time to head back to our hosts' house, pack our bags and join one of the team families for dinner. We spent the rest of the evening chatting about ministry, God's heart for the Albanian people and if our family would be a good fit and would be able to thrive in this city.
We still have quite a bit of thinking to do about that.
Very early the next morning, we got to the airport to begin the long travel home.
At the beginning of the week, we gave the kids new journals to write about or draw their daily adventures. And we used a travel journal that my Mom had given us many years ago, in anticipation of a similar vision trip, to document our daily travels. This week, we are spending time each night reading our journals to each other. We are enjoying this time of sharing and reconnecting.
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